Bittersweet and Strange
by nachonaco
Summary: He'd brought Felix down, and she brought the wrecker down, however unwittingly it was. He would keep her alive, and they would be the last two survivors of the arcade when all was said and done.
1. Calhoun 1: Loss

Paperwork. If there was one thing Sergeant Calhoun hated more than a cybug, paperwork was it (or at least was at the very top of the list). There wasn't much, but Surge Protector was insistent that she do it. Totals, tallies, that kind of thing. She leaned back, pushing her bangs back with a gloved hand. She looked at her wedding photo. "Just a little longer, Felix," she said. "And I can see you again." Then Kohut came into her office.

"Sarge!" He yelled. "Sarge, there's been an accident."

"What do you mean, Kohut?" She asked, and something about his face made her heart drop. "Kohut, what's going on?"

"Your husband-" Kohut choked. "He's dead."

"What?" To add to her heart dropping, her stomach joined in. "Kohut you can't be serious. Please. Please don't lie to me like that." She got up out of her chair and walked over to him. "You know I can't take it."

"It's true. He was brought here by this big purple and red cybug. I've never seen one like it before."

"Purple and re-" She stopped mid-word before getting a running start toward the door. "Kohut, I've got to go. Tell the men I'll be back before opening on Monday."

"You know I can't let you do that."

"You don't have a choice!" She barked, boarding her cruiser and setting off towards her game's exit. She clicked the accelerator with her foot, speeding off toward Fix-it Felix, Jr. "Please be there," she whispered. "Please, baby. Please."

But Felix was nowhere to be found. Instead, Wreck-it was waiting for her. "Hey, Sergeant, have you seen-"

"No," she said, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "Kohut said a cybug got him…but that can't be."

"Well come on," Ralph said. "Let's go look for him. Maybe he's with Vanellope."

* * *

Calhoun entered Sugar Rush, and almost immediately afterward, her body began glowing red. "What the-" She asked, before her curiosity was eclipsed with pain. She struggled to breathe, and when she pulled at her neck she found a collar around it. The collar began to beep and she futilely began to scratch at it. "Wre-Wreck- he-lp m-" She began to cough. "Get it-" She gasped for air as it grew tighter around her neck. "Off!"

She watched as Wreck-it reached for her collar. But as soon as he touched it, he glowed red and screamed before he fell to the ground, dead. "RALPH!" Calhoun screamed. "Ralph, no, please, not you too!"

She was answered with a chuckle. "You've been infected, my dear Calhoun." That's when she saw it, a cybrid. The half-human, half-cybug villain she'd heard about from Wreck-it Ralph was standing before her, and she started to shake. She'd never seen a cybrid in full before. "I could have done so much better," he said. "You look like you've got one of those hedgehog's rings around your neck. Now, one moment." He snapped his fingers and she could breathe again. The collar had been changed from a thick golden ring to a thin, tasteful chain necklace with a ruby dangling from it. She shuddered at his touch as he lifted her chin.

"Stay away from me," Calhoun bit. "I'm not in the fucking mood." She backed away, and found only solidity where the portal should have been. She looked behind her and kicked the entrance with her heel and noted that the area she kicked turned red.

"You're a virus now, my dear. You can't leave," the cybrid said. "Unless I alter its code."


	2. Calhoun 2: Tethered

**A/N: Holy crap, Witch Knight Daisy! It's such an honor to have you read my fanfic! I hope you like it! Do you have Skype? Also, thanks to the anonymous reviewer!**

"Come." The cybug king had already started walking, and Calhoun followed him wordlessly. She wondered if she had much of a choice, given the necklace she wore. She jerked her foot back to test it, but the virus took over and she was vaulted forward. She fell, her Kevlar armor hitting the candy ground with a dull thud. "Are you all right?" He asked gently.

"Fine," she hissed as she stood up. "Don't do me any favors."

"Sergeant, I only asked if you were all right."

Was he genuine?

"Please," the sergeant said. "Let me go back. Let me-"

"If you go back, it will only be a reminder of what transpired. You'll remember Brad Scott, you'll remember Felix. But I'm giving you something new."

"Why save me," she said. "Why not drag me out to another game and execute me?"

"Because I admire your power, honestly," he said. "And I need a queen."

Her blood ran cold. "Okay, you know what, that is it. Get me out of this-" Then her vision went cloudy. She still saw the cybug before her, though he was covered in a film of red.

"Now, now," he chided and snapped his fingers. Her vision cleared. "Is that any way to repay your host?"

She followed him to the candy castle. But where was-

"Vanellope?" She questioned the child's name aloud.

"I'm sure she's out practicing drifts with the other racers," the cybug said. "She doesn't know I've returned yet. I'm waiting for the right moment."

"You won't hurt her, will you?"

"I see you're warming up to me. You have your infection to thank for that." He cleared his throat. "No, Vanellope will not be harmed, so long as I do not meet resistance. Do you remember the licorice clearing where you found the cybug nest?"

"Yes," she said quietly.

"She never goes there – it's near the platformer section. That you were there was a complete fluke. Anyway. When the invasion started, some eggs hadn't hatched. I'm not sure why, but when I respawned, I went back and they had. They've been hiding under there ever since. But back to Vanellope. If she crosses me, she'll be taken to another game, with my cybugs, and eaten."

"Is that what happened to Felix?"

"Yes."

"And you did this so you could have me as your queen, didn't you?"

"Yes. It was the only way I knew how."

They reached the throne room. There was the smell of vanilla and of grapes. She felt a pang of hunger, but didn't say anything. The cybug king gestured to a chair.

"Sit down, make yourself comfortable. You're hungry. Here," he said as he handed her a bit of white chocolate. "It's from my kart. I can't drive it in this body."

Hesitantly, she nibbled at the kart. "I'll be able to go back to my game eventually, won't I?"

"I'm sure," he said. "When I've amassed an army large enough to take on Hero's Duty. You'll be by my side. I'm going to end that wretched game. And even though you'll be a cybug, your men won't attack you."

"A cybug? What? You're insa-"

"Calhoun," he said in a measured tone. "You may be my queen, but I am your king, and you _will_ hold your tongue. I can control how far this virus goes. I know you want to die. It's very much your only thought at this point in time."

He wasn't wrong.

"But I have no intention of killing you. In fact, you're the only one in this arcade worthy of surviving at all." He turned around.

_Be strong_, she told herself. _Get him. Make the bastard pay. Fuck the virus. Don't let it hold you back._ She reached for her knife, her movements slow and labored as the virus tried to protect its master. _Don't make a sound_, she thought.

The king whipped around just as she'd unsheathed her knife from its holster.

"You are strong," he affirmed, then snapped his fingers. Calhoun flinched as she saw the outline of her body glow red again and she was lifted in the air. This time, the pain was not a warning: it was a full-on attack on every cell and bone in her body. "I thought you'd learned your lesson. I suppose not," he hissed. She felt her body be tossed back into a side room. She heard the door lock. "Sarge?" She heard a small voice, the other occupant of the room.

"President," she murmured, still glancing at the door. "Are you all right? He said you-"

"He lied, Sarge. It's what he does."

"Are you all right? He hasn't hurt you, has he?"

She heard the clinking of chains and turned to glance at the once-again usurped ruler of Sugar Rush Speedway.

"Just my pride," the little girl said with a weak smile. "But you're here to protect me, aren't you. That's why he put you in here, 'cause you kicked his butt."

"I wish, kid," she said. There was no need to address her as President, the title had been stripped from her.

"Can you come sit by me?" Vanellope asked.

"Sure, kid," she said softly and went to sit by the girl.


	3. Calhoun 3: Metamorphosis

**A/N: Oh gosh, Witch Knight Daisy! I love your fics so much. Felix and the Cursed Pie is my favorite of yours! Hey, how do I get reviews? I mean I know I've had this posted for like 24 hours, but...I wanna know your secret! Hahaha!**

Cli-click-sshh. Calhoun opened her eyes to the sound of her armor disengaging and removing itself from her body. The little girl who was her cellmate had long since disappeared, and there was darkness in the room as the red lights on her Space Marine bodysuit went out, their function no longer needed since it had vacated.

She'd been asleep. That meant she felt safe, her biometrics were normal – or was the virus acting up?

Strange, to say the least.

"I hadn't expected that." She heard King Candy's voice ad the purple bug entered the room. "Put it back on," he hissed.

He wasn't talking to her, she knew. He was talking to the virus. At the sound of his words, Calhoun felt more fear than she had ever felt (and that included the time she had nearly been eaten headfirst by a cybug while sleeping, the very first night her game was plugged in), and the armor did it job. It reattached itself to her body with such force that her body was shoved back against the wall, away from the candy monster.

"Sour Bill," the king called to his lackey on the other side of the door. "Bring the bug in."

"B-bug?" She asked. "A cybug?"

"Yes, my dear," he said. "Don't play stupid. You know where cybrids came from."

She strayed from thoughts of Brad – who knew if the cybrid king could see her memories. She wouldn't chance it.

Their conversation was cut short by the arrival of the cybug. If she weren't infected, Calhoun would have frozen. Instead there was a natural propensity to go toward the predator.

"The virus is making it too easy," Candy said coolly. "Why don't you fight back a little? You have so much time to be a predator yourself. Why not enjoy your time as prey?"

Calhoun shook.

"Sarge!" Vanellope yelled.

The cybug advanced toward her, launching itself at her. She saw the sickly green glowing light of the cybug's maw, and screamed. She heard her armor crack and felt the rotor blades as they spun and cut into her skin. Her blood clouded her vision. She looked at her skin. Blue patches – where her code was being disrupted and expropriated – appeared. She couldn't move.

So this was what it was like to be dead.

* * *

When she came to, it felt like she'd been hit with one of Wreck-it's punches. God, how she wished he was here now, to kill the cybug and then kill her for not doing it herself. But she had to admit, there were advantages to whatever the hell had happened to her. Her vision was sharper, albeit covered in a neon yellow glow. "Sarge?" She heard the voice of a little girl. Calhoun stared at her. The girl had candy covering her hair, and big green-brown eyes. Calhoun's mouth began to water.

"Food," she rasped.


	4. Calhoun 4: Hunt

The predator said nothing, but stared at her prey while weighing her options. The smell of vanilla blood was plaguing her senses, and oh how she longed to spill it on the marble floors. She swiped at the girl, tearing her clothes. "Kill," she murmured. "Kill you…" She heard the girl's bones crack under the pressure of her claws, pressing the small child against a wall. "Eat you…."

"Sarge, it's me! It's Vanellope! You don't want to-"

For a five-second period, as the girl had the good fortune to be killed in her own game, Vanellope von Schweetz went silent. The light left her eyes for a brief moment, yet the child revitalized before Calhoun could make her move. The child's face was contorted in pain (probably emotional, Calhoun gathered), as the monster maintained her grip.

"My queen," the cybug king placed a hand on his queen's shoulder. "Now's not the time."

She stared at him. _Hungry_, she thought.

"I know, you're hungry. But you won't get to eat her unless you take her out of the game. The second she dies, she'll just regenerate. We'll take her out of this game, all in due time. In the meantime, some of the other racers might curb your appetite a bit. Just make sure you leave eight racers."

* * *

Once she had calmed down, Calhoun took a good look at herself. The top half of her body looked normal. At her waistline, however, was the body of a spider. Three sets of legs were cumbersome, but if it was what she had to work with, it would do. She no longer felt insatiable hunger, her head was clear. She remembered hearing Vanellope's ribcage break, and oh, how exhilarating it – no. She couldn't think like that – she was not going to become a monster.

But she wasn't going to give Turbo the satisfaction of starving herself to death before she could kill him. She had to keep her strength up somehow. Then she remembered: the recolors. It would be easy to kidnap one, they wouldn't be missed.

Boldly, she stepped out of the castle and set off to hunt. She followed the candy scents, her heightened senses almost cloyed by the onslaught of smells. Her cybug instincts were clouding her judgment…but she had to think rationally.

None of the Sugar Rush racers intended to be loners, especially after what had happened to their prin- President. But the recolors were slow to adjust to the new normal, having been seen as second-class citizens. "Hey, Torvald!" A racer called. "Race you to Diet Cola Mountain!"

"You're on!" The butterscotch-themed racer laughed, though she fell far behind.

Calhoun pitied the child.

She kept her breathing low and her movements soft as she went toward the racer. Swiftly, she cupped the child's mouth with her hand before she could scream for help and lifted her off the ground. The arcade was open and there would be no characters in Central Station, so sneaking to another game would be no problem. She'd sneak into her home game.

* * *

Hero's Duty looked different. Her cybug soul made each movement reluctant and hard, and she carried the child with trepidation. Eventually she found a small outcropping, free of the first person shooters and soldiers.

It was time to kill the child and eat. Calhoun brought her needles out and punctured the child's skin. The little girl's skin blanched and she screamed before losing consciousness.

The cry brought forth a skittering noise.

An all-too familiar noise.

"Cybug," Calhoun murmured.

The challenging cybug galloped over to her kill. Calhoun hissed and swiped at it, succeeding in batting it away. She moved closer, intent on making it pay. This was the real her, the one born to kill cybugs. This was who she was meant to be, who Turbo took from her. Now, she realized as thunder crashed around them and rain began to fall. "Go away!" She thundered. "This is my kill!"

What she didn't notice, however, was that the cybug had brought a friend. She had to admit it, the damn things were organized. She heard the telltale crunching of bones (she'd seen at least one unfortunate visiting character perish at the mandibles of the monsters) and then the child was gone. Calhoun turned and launched herself at the thief, who began scratching her with its own claws.

A cybrid had no chance of fighting an actual cybug. Humans relied on their hearts to win a battle, cybugs relied on their brains. Every turn, she would be outmatched. She was still half-human. Calhoun cried out in pain, feeling her left arm's carapace crack as she hit a metal pillar.

The rain fell as she lost consciousness, cursing herself for losing a meal, for being an idiot, and for being a monster.


	5. Calhoun 5: Stay of Execution

Beep. Beep. Beep. Tamora Calhoun opened her eyes and rose from the cold metal floor. She knew those beeps – but why was she here? "Hey, Sarge," the grave voice of her second-in-command, Kohut, greeted. In his hands was a laser rifle. Behind him was an operating table. She stepped forward a few feet, but was stopped abruptly by wires restraining her.

"Kohut," she ordered, the beeps – she supposed it was her heart monitor – going faster and faster. "Let me go."

"No can do, Sarge. You said three years ago, this was what you wanted to happen if you ever became a cybug."

"I ordered you to let me go," she said coolly, removing the needles from her carapace.

"I'm not letting you go. You are a monster and you need to be destroyed."

She lunged at him through the bars, denting one. She brought out her own needles, ready to poison her former friend. If she could only reach him, he would die and she would be safe. She could go back to King Candy and- why was she thinking about him? "Please, please don't do this," she begged. "I don't want to die."

"TJ," he said, and she winced at the nickname. "As much as I want to spare your life, it's for the good of the game. We've actually been monitoring you since your transformation…You're slowly becoming more feral. Your lucid moments are becoming fewer and farther apart."

"I don't want to die. Please, Kohut, I'll do anything."

Kohut sighed, and with that, she knew he was beginning to wear down.

"I'll never come back to this game. I promise. If- If I do, then you can shoot me."

"Tamora…"

She watched as his posture fell. She'd won, but for how long that victory would last, she doubted either of them knew. She heard the whoosh of the bars being lifted. "I'll have Green escort you out. Don't worry, he won't harm you. But I'm serious, if I see you here again…"

"Thank you," she said.

The walk back to Sugar Rush was long. She would live the rest of her years (or however long a cybug lived when no threat was present) in Sugar Rush. After all, there was really no reason to leave. She'd find food somehow, or maybe she'd just stay away from cannibalism as long as her cybug brain lay dormant. As for how long she had before that, who knew.

Her thoughts were racing until she saw King Candy. He looked gravely concerned for her. "Where have you been?" He asked softly. "I was so worried about you?"

"I went out hunting," she said, her head hung low. "And got hurt."

"I can see that," he replied, and she saw his gaze travel across her body, which was no doubt covered in scratches. "Are you all right now?"

"Yes. I'm going to bed." She walked past him and into her chambers. As she entered, she saw Vanellope freeze. The former sergeant did nothing, but instead climbed into the bed and fell asleep.

A short time later, she was awakened by a sound she hadn't heard in weeks. Brr-ding! Tamora's head shot up and she looked at her wounds. They glowed blue, then gold, then…

They were fixed.

"Felix," she murmured.


	6. Calhoun 6: He Lives In You

"Tammy?"

Her nickname.

"Tammy, where are you?"

No one called her that but Felix.

"Tammy!"

"I'm here, Felix," she said as she opened her eyes. They were on a beach – Extreme Easy Living 2's beach, to be precise. She was wearing a bright blue dress with white flip-flops. He was wearing a plain white T-shirt with yellow swim trunks. He smiled at her as he rocked his feet back and forth, the way he had in life, always restless. "But…where are we?"

"Your subconscious," Felix said. "We're asleep right now."

"We?" She repeated. "Felix, Kohut told me you'd-"

"The cybug that ate you," Felix said with a sigh. "was the same one that ate me."

"You're here now, that's what matters," she said. She hugged him, and through his shirt she could feel the various raised keloid scars that the cybug must have inflicted on him. "I've missed you so much."

"I'm always with you, Tammy," he said. "And I'll keep you from becoming a monster."

"Thank you," she said quietly. It was all she could think of to say – this was just a dream, he wasn't really there with her. "Felix, did you-"

"I healed you," Felix said. "Well, fixed is the right word, I-I guess."

"You're so sweet," she said with a laugh, then her laughter abruptly stopped. "I wish you'd be there when I wake up. I just…I'm sorry. I should be enjoying what little time we have here."

"Like I said," Felix said. "I'm here with you. Forever and always." He put one hand up in the air and covered his heart with the other. "I swear it, through thick and thin, through power outages and thunderstorms, I will stick by you."

Her dream world faded as she woke. She looked at her right arm. The cracks in the shell were a dark blue, the same color as Felix's cap. She dug her claws into the shell, puncturing it. She bit down on her lip as her flesh became exposed, and then her body healed itself, the shell turning from black to blue. "You're still with me," she whispered.

* * *

"Vanellope," Calhoun said, shaking the young girl awake gently. "Vanellope, wake up. I need to talk to you."

The child woke and backed against the wall.

"Vanellope, I'm normal. I promise. Felix is keeping me in control. The cybug half isn't here now. It's dormant." She removed the child's bonds. "I need you to show me something, Vanellope. Don't worry. I swear, I won't hurt you. I've got it under control."

"What about that Turbo jerk?"

"If he catches us, then I'll have to act like I'm hunting you," she said. "But don't worry. Like I said, I'm in control, and I am a damn fine actress."

"Okay," the child said. "I trust you."

"That means the world to me, Vanellope. Now, can you show me where the code room is?"

"Yeah."

It turned out that the code room wasn't far from her room at all. A matter of seconds, their travel undetected, and they were there. Vanellope entered the code and tied herself to a hook on the wall before swimming into the ether. "Come on, Sergeant Sassypants," the child called, her fears clearly vanquished.

A small chuckle escaped Calhoun's throat as she followed the girl. "God, I thought I'd never have you joking with me after this."

Calhoun found her code box and tapped it. A series of red wires – the cybug virus, no doubt – were connected to a cybug egg dead in the middle of the data. "I don't think that's an egg," Vanellope said. "I think it just looks like one. It's probably your heart."

"My heart?"

"Yeah, your cybug one. That'd be my guess, anyway. You see anything interesting?"

"Yeah," Calhoun said. "I do." Her eyes were locked to a thin, almost-invisible blue wire, the same hue as her scars, that ran along the edge of the cube and to the cybug egg center. "He's alive!" Pure elation was the only thing crossing her mind at that moment, and she held Vanellope close, hugging her. "Felix is alive! It's true!"

"Sweet," Vanellope said with a laugh.

Calhoun left the code room with Vanellope, noting a purple and orange object in the corner. It had to be a trick, she thought.

He didn't know she'd gone in here.

Yes, a trick.

She hoped.


	7. Calhoun 7: Cut Down

**A/N: I don't own Wreck-it Ralph! Please read and review!**

"I can't believe he's alive," Calhoun whispered. "He's alive." The words were almost too good for her to say, especially given what had happened. She ran a hand through her hair as she paced the room, the candy-themed child watching her. "He's alive, maybe I can get back to normal."

Then the thought of seeing King Cybug in the code room stopped her from her thoughts. "Vanellope," she said. "You didn't see King Candy in there, did you?"

"Well, I think I did," Vanellope said sadly. "But I'm not sure."

"Shit," Calhoun murmured.

Don't worry, she heard Felix's voice inside her mind say. Everything will be okay.

"Tamora, my queen," the musical voice of King Candy wafted through the room. "Would you join me in the code room, please? And bring the girl."

Calhoun had no choice. She followed his orders, with Vanellope silently trailing behind her. The king had already tied himself down with a licorice rope, and held the other end out for Vanellope to take. Calhoun grabbed another rope and tied it around her waist, gently giving the other end to Vanellope. "If you release either of these ropes," King Candy said to the girl. "So help me, I'll drag you to another game and kill you myself." Tamora looked down at the frightened girl as she gasped.

"It will be all right," Tamora said quietly, tapping the blue scars on her arm, as if to show that Felix would protect them. Then she entered the code room with her king. It was imperative, she realized, that she act as though she had never seen it.

"There's actually room to move in here," she said quietly. "Back home, in Hero's Duty, we didn't have this kind of room. All sorts of cybug eggs floating every which way…it was hard to move around whenever one of us had to go in and change something."

"I'd wager, even though your game is newer and can support more code, there are more beings in this game. The candy spectators, all of the medals…"

Calhoun floated over to the egg sac she'd seen before. "What is this?"

"This," the king began. "will be our army."

"Our army?"

"Well, how did you think cybugs got created? They have to be replicated in the code. Cybrids are infertile, we have no way of multiplying our army by ourselves. So I went to the code room for a little bit of help. It's…awe-inspiring, isn't it? Just think how many cybugs we'll have tomorrow. By my count, we have a little under a thousand."

"Yes, it's, uh, quite impressive," Calhoun replied. It wasn't untrue – what the tyrant had done to Sugar Rush was quite impressive indeed.

"Now," the king said. "let's check our codes. For any….interference."

_Oh shit_, she thought. _He definitely knows_. Her heart began to beat faster and faster, then it slowed. Felix was calming her.

_Be strong_, Felix told her.

"You seem a little pale," the king said. "Maybe I should check your code first."

"I-I had a question first."

"Yes?"

"When I first came here a few days a-ago, and you infected me with the virus…"

"Don't worry, it won't harm you. I was only using it as a sedative, really. I didn't want you to feel much pain. A little, yes, but not very much. I didn't want you to be traumatized completely by your husband's death, nor your friend Wreck-it Ralph's…or by your transformation."

_Maybe that bought me some time_.

"Bought you some time? What ever do you mean?"

"I…nothing."

"I can read your thoughts, Calhoun. I thought you knew that. But," the king said as he accessed her code. "you apparently didn't."

She watched as the sea of red code appeared, and her eyes instantly went to the blue line that kept Felix alive.

"Interesting," the king said. "There shouldn't be any color other than red here…Would you come a little closer, please?"

Calhoun stood still.

"That was an order."

The king snapped his fingers and Calhoun found herself teleported next to the king. "Do you know anything about this little blue line?"

"Yes," she admitted.

"What is it?"

"F-Felix."

"I believe I've made a horrible mistake," the king said. "It would appear the cybug that ate you also ate your husband…and your husband, evidently, was not quite dead when he was eaten."

"What are you going to do?"

She found her vision clouding for a second, then saw things differently: her head swiveled to the left, and she saw herself, but her eyes were closed. "I've turned off your vision," he said. "You're now seeing things through my eyes. I wanted you to have a front row seat to this."

"No, please, please, don't cut his-"

She watched, through his eyes, as he took the thin blue wire in his claws. "Don't worry, my dear," he said. "You won't have anything to worry about from him anymore." He snapped the wire.

Her vision returned to normal, and her stomach and heart dropped.

"Let's go," he said. "Everything looks normal here."


	8. Calhoun 8: Gone

Calhoun sighed as she laid on a thick branch of a candy tree, her six legs dangling off the sides and her arms neatly folded under her chin. It would only be a matter of time now – days, hours, minutes, seconds – until she went full cybug. Then, she realized, she'd be executed by Kohut. There was nothing to do now but wait, she thought as she looked at her scars. With Felix gone, the blue carapace marks had turned red.

She turned her head, glancing at the 'Parting is such sweet sorrow' sign. Maybe it would be best if she turned herself in, after all, what did she have to live for? She propped her chin up with one hand, idly looking at her other hand. It looked so normal. Then she watched as the needles popped out from her fingertips, already elongated and clawed. Why were they doing that? Then she smelled something.

Strawberries.

If her backstory was anything to go on, she'd loved strawberries as a girl on Earth. Then came the years of Space Marine training, and then the further years of life on the Planet With No Name. She lowered herself slowly from the tree branch, using her needles to silently grip the bark. The tree decayed slowly under her, finally dematerializing just as she landed on the ground. The pink-clad girl was oblivious to the fact that she had so little time left to live.

She grabbed the child by the back of her jacket with one hand, and hit her over the head with the other, then headed out to Game Central Station. No one took notice of her, a fact that the former sergeant was grateful for. She cradled the child carefully, adjusting her when she felt something ooze out of the back of the child's head. Taffyta Muttonfudge was bleeding, and the thick pink blood smelled extremely strongly of strawberries. Calhoun licked her hand and sauntered off to Fix-it Felix, Jr.

She should have dragged the butterscotch-flavored racer here, she thought as she examined the abandoned – yet still plugged in – game. It was perfect, and it reminded her of Felix. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, and then the racer began to stir.

Then the hunger – oh, the insatiable hunger.

The racer opened her blue eyes and squealed, wrenching herself from Calhoun's grip. "Hello," the cybrid greeted.

"Wh-who are you?"

"Oh, don't you remember me?" Calhoun asked, leaning down, caressing the girl's cheek with a claw as the girl backed against a tree. The claw drew blood, and Calhoun licked it. "I was there when Sugar Rush was fixed."

"You're- you're hurting me," the racer said, and Calhoun saw her wince as her tears mixed with her blood. "Stop!"

Calhoun snickered. "Aw, what's the matter? Is the top racer of Sugar Rush afraid?"

"Y-yes! Now let me go home!"

"Oh, we'll be going back home," Calhoun said. "Don't you worry about that, kid." She pinned the child to the ground, hand over the girl's heart. The juicy organ was beating rapidly, and she couldn't wait until it stopped. "You'll just be gone when we do."

"Please, please, don't kill me!"

"'Don't kill you'?" Calhoun scoffed. "How else do you expect me to eat?"

"H-here!" Taffyta said, freeing herself and grabbing a nearby plant. "Y-you're hungry, eat this!"

Calhoun laughed and watched as her prey's eyes widened.

"I don't think so."

She swiped at the child's chest, breaking the skin and exposing the muscle and bone and organs underneath. She watched as the child struggled to get up. "Dinner and a show," Calhoun commented. "Thank you. You have pleased your queen."

"You're- you're sick, and Vanellope's gonna stop y-you!" The child promised, her face blanching as she tripped over a tree root and fell.

"'Stop me'? You just get better every minute. Makes me glad you'll bleed to death slowly, and you can keep entertaining me." She yanked the child closer by a leg.

"V-Vanellope said sh-she was gonna ge-get one of the soldiers from Hero's Duty 'cause th-they know how to ki-kill cy-cybugs."

"There's one thing she didn't count on…they'd never kill me. And I'm going to use that, child, to my advantage."

The racer's eyes grew even wider.

"But," Calhoun said as she slit the child's throat. "I'll be sure to tell her that she was dead wrong…just as she takes her last breath."

With that, she feasted.


	9. Calhoun 9: Black Widow

Calhoun woke up in Niceland with a splitting headache, like she'd gone ten rounds against Zangief. What had happened last night? She brought a clawed hand to her head, shaking it. She felt something strange on her hand and pulled it back from her forehead in order to examine it. Her hand was covered in something pink that smelled of strawberries…

The events of the previous night flooded her brain, and remorse hit her like a brick. She'd killed a Sugar Rush racer, and by the smell of the blood, it had been Taffyta Muttonfudge. Calhoun frowned. What was she to do now?

Tamora, dearest…

She put her hand to her head again as King Candy's voice flooded her thoughts. He sounded weak.

Oh, why did she leave him?

She raced back toward Sugar Rush.

"Kohut!" She barked as she saw her second-in-command leading a platoon of soldiers into the candy game. "What are you doing?"

"We're liberating Sugar Rush," Kohut said. "Men, restrain her so she can't access the king."

"Sorry, Sarge," one of her men – a mere boy, really – said with genuine remorse.

She let her needles out and tore out his throat.

She fled into Sugar Rush. Now she'd done it, she'd sealed her fate. She only hoped the king's hadn't been sealed as well, not before she told him how she felt. She raced down the rainbow bridge as fast as her six legs would carry her. No sign of any struggle anywhere, none of her former soldiers, and no sign of Sugar Rush's king.

She'd done it now, she realized as she hastily entered the code room, releasing the cybugs.

A little more hellraising couldn't hurt.

As she explored the code room, she found, to her relief, that King Candy's code remained untouched.

"Thank Mod," she said to herself.

Now she just had to find him, she realized. And that was likely easier said than done. "My king?" She asked quietly as she entered the throne room. She found him, muttering worriedly to himself. "I'm here to protect you," she said quietly.

"No," he answered. "You….have my leave to go."

Tamora shook her head. "No," she said. "Not without you." She took his purple hands in her jet black ones. "My king."

He gave her a wistful smile.

"I've released cybugs into the game. They'll keep the soldiers busy."

"How many?"

"All of them. Every last one. Then, once Hero's Duty is vacated by the soldiers, we'll get more."

"Tamora…"

She looked at him. "I live to serve you," she said simply. "And protect my home."

The sounds of battle were heard, and she knew what she had to do.

"No," the king said as he stepped in front of her. "No, it's my kingdom, I'll defend it. You stay here, in the code room."

"I won't leave you!" she said, her hand on his arm, a look of concern flashed on her face.

"Sour Bill," he said. "Escort the queen to the code room. Do not let her leave until I give the all clear."

The little sour ball nodded, escorting the woman-bug that further dwarfed him (she was somewhere between the heights of the bug king and perhaps two or four feet taller than Wreck-it, she believed).

Time passed differently in the code room, or so it seemed – or was that nothing more than her anxious imagination? She waited with bated breath, watching the code boxes as they transmitted information to each other, nothing out of the norm. Then she caught sight of King Candy's code box as it fizzed and crackled and then…disappeared.

Sugar Rush's ruler had fallen.


	10. Calhoun 10: Encounter

**A/N: Hey, Witch Knight Daisy! So glad you're loving it so far. I do wanna go ahead and tell you about my new fic I'm working on that will debut on 5/14/13, my 13th anniversary on this site! Could I PM you it? Also, Darth Ben Valor, thanks for your review as well! I'm so glad you like it too! :D**

* * *

The first thing she did as Sugar Rush's sole ruler was simple: darken Sugar Rush. Night fell over the candy kingdom, perfectly suited to its queen's mood. The second thing she did was dispose of Wynnchel, Duncan, and Sour Bill. The three had cowered before her, and Sour Bill was the last to be eaten. She savored the taste of the green apple candy, his jellybean fists beating against her as she devoured him.

The second thing she did was to lock Vanellope in the fungeon, the glitch-proof chains deftly bent to her every whim, a consequence of the viral magic that filled her blood. "I-I don't understand," the candy child said quietly. "I thought you were f-f-fixed."

_Fixed_. Oh, how she _hated_ that word.

Queen Tamora smiled at the young ex-president, showing the scars that had previously been blue. "Felix," she said, a small, evil grin of fangs present on her face. "is gone."

"Sarge, this isn't you."

"Queen," she corrected. "And you would do well to remember my title. I rather like it, and intend to keep it."

"Sarge…please…you saved me," Vanellope said. "You said I wasn't gonna get hurt."

"Things change. After all, wasn't it you who sentenced your entire population of subjects to death, only to later claim you were just joking?"

Vanellope gulped.

"You'll be the last," the queen declared. "Taffyta's gone…Torvald's gone…your donut servants…" She lifted the girl's chin so that those big brown-green eyes gazed up at her, and the queen saw her own glowing yellow eyes reflected in them. "You are alone, as I am."

The child shuddered at her touch. They were so close she could smell the girl's vanilla-scented blood.

"Then again, you _are_ used to being alone, aren't you? Three years of freedom can't erase fifteen years of pain."

"Stop it," Vanellope shuddered.

The queen snickered. "For now, I'll leave you. But just so you know, there's no escape. You will die."

* * *

She took her usual resting spot, in one of the candy trees, on one of the highest branches so as not to be easily caught. There was no telling if her former subordinates were still in the game, so it was better to stay where she was safe.

After all, her safety was paramount.


	11. Calhoun 11: Something to Declare

**A/N: I wanna thank everyone for their reviews so far! Calhoun's journey is almost over with, but I still have three more POVs to go, with possibly a bonus chapter!**

Cybugs didn't dream, that's how she knew her transformation was still incomplete. Queen Tamora, as she had come to be called, fidgeted in her sleep as she dreamt. Her reveries were feverish and fleeting. Brad, Felix, Ralph…everyone she had ever loved and lost. She dreamed of King Candy last, the cybug monarch reaching out for her hand, a small smile on his face.

Her mind flashed to her former game and the first time she'd stepped inside of it. She looked around. Everything was normal, she was a regular human. Her second-in-command, Jacob Kohut, was reaching out for her hand much as King Candy had, but this time she was grateful for it. Elation was the only thing on her mind as she looked at her old body and her old friend, and she buried herself into his armored chest. "Oh Jake," she said quietly, her voice racked with sobs. "I'm so glad we're back to normal."

"TJ," he said. "This is just a dream…"

"I know," she whispered. "I don't care."

"This can't last."

"I. Don't. Care," she repeated.

"TJ…" He said softly.

"Jake," she breathed, her lips close to his. There was no Felix, there was no King Candy – just her and Jake…so much like Brad it almost hurt.

She felt the mesh of his gloves as he lifted her chin so their eyes met. "TJ," he began. "I love you…and always will…no matter what it comes to. You are loved."

Then she woke.

The thoughts of Kohut were enough to remind her what she had to do: go to war.

* * *

She roused Vanellope from her troubled sleep, the child sleeping at an awkward angle to accommodate her chains. Calhoun jerked the lead. "Listen to me," she said roughly. "I'm letting you leave Sugar Rush for one hour. You are to find the leader of Hero's Duty, his name is Kohut, and bring him to me."

"Y-yes, my queen," Vanellope said with a shudder.

Cahoun watched as the child left.

Now there was time to kill. Time to gather her army. She rushed to the code room, where she found a clutch of cybug eggs. She released them, each cybug larva lovingly rubbing up against their queen as she opened their shells. She used her mind to instruct them that they were to assemble before her throne.

After all, she had to appear threatening, didn't she? It was one of the most important things she could do.

* * *

She watched, drumming her elongated fingers on her carapace as Kohut entered. "Q-Queen Tamora," he said, his tone sounding sincere. "You're looking well."

"Forget the platitudes, Kohut," she hissed.

"Er…why is it, then, that I was brought here?"

"A declaration of war."

"War?"

"Between our games, yes."

"Sarge-"

A momentary slip of the tongue, she supposed, but one that would not be forgiven.

"We'll be mounting our first attack on your remaining men here," the queen said. "War has begun."


	12. Calhoun 12: Fractured

**A/N: This is it guys, the final chapter! Well, from Calhoun's POV. King Candy's POV is next and will probably be worked on sometime within the week. I hope you guys enjoy the ending as much as I did writing it!**

Queen Tamora readied her troops for battle. The snarling convoy of cybugs clashed with the cheery (though it was still nighttime) atmosphere. She was preparing herself, shaking the last shudder of her former self, the small part of her that said that this was not okay, not condition green, away. She passed a hall of sugar glass mirrors – King Candy was, after all, a vain man – and caught sight of herself for the first time in a very long time. She took a good long look at herself. Her face was what was most alarming – her skin had blanched to an almost eggshell-white, certainly unhealthy. Her eyes were a sickly yellow – like Turbo's, King Candy's true form, but they were pupil-less, like a cybug's.

She chuckled at her reflection. It would strike fear in the hearts of her former soldiers. It struck fear in _her_ heart, if she was completely, really, honest. She strolled through the castle, giving it one last glance. The cheery J-pop music of Sugar Rush clashed horribly with the sounds of battle outside as cybug and man grappled, and she wondered when it would be best for her to aid her comrades. One cybug had never left her side, a cybug larva that she assumed was number one-thousand-seven-hundred-and-ninety-six, if not a higher number.

Queen Tamora strode out of the castle on a mission, pushing past the deposed young ruler. Her mission was to destroy all soldiers. An ironic reversal of what she'd started out as, three years ago.

She remembered her first time in Game Central Station. She'd popped out to see what there was to be seen, and then popped back into her game and her barracks twice as fast as she'd gone out. She became a recluse, burying herself in paperwork. But then Fix-it came along, and she was unafraid to leave. She would venture out into the world with him, and what a crazy pair they made. She remembered the first time she felt safe – not simulated safe, but actually secure – in his arms, in the Laffy Taffy vines. How could such a little man support her weight? She'd been easily twice his size.

"Oh, Felix," she mused aloud, and noted a slight metallic tinge to her voice. "I'm so sorry." Her eyes went to the scars on her arm, and for a brief moment she remembered them as blue. But they were red, King Candy's design of course, and his word was law. She was to forget Felix.

Her mind flashed to that awful day in the code room, when she realized she had to declare war. His code box had just faded into nothingness, disintegrated, and the other boxes moved to close the gap like he'd never even been there before.

Her mind flashed…to Brad.

She shook her head.

Brad Scott had never been real, the lovemaking in his shuttle had never been real, going at each other like lovesick teenagers….it was all the work of a bored programmer.

"Enough of the memories," she told herself aloud, the metallic quality returning stronger and almost distorting her words.

It was time for her to enter the battlefield.

The pink sugar sand was littered with dead bodies, most of them candy men fighting alongside her bugs, though there was the occasional mound of black armor that told her the cybugs were at least making a valiant effort. She wondered if Kohut was among the dead, but given his strength and ferocity, she doubted it. She imagined his body, disemboweled and in pure agony as she swept down on him and gave him a parting kiss. She smiled and licked her lips at the vision of the bloodshed she'd cause. She wouldn't eat him, no, she'd had her fill after eating all of the Sugar Rush racers (minus Vanellope – she'd promised not to hurt the girl, after all, and she'd make a fine pet). She would let him stay homeless in Game Central Station, since he was-

"Humanity's last hope." The phrase was foreign to her now, as a nonhuman. "Our mission? Destroy all marines."

The cybugs in her general area clicked and made metallic howling noises, for she'd spoken in their native tongue, somewhat unbidden. Was her transformation completing?

The group of metallic insects lurched forward in a huddle, leaving their queen to her thoughts and reservations. She marched forward herself a moment later, and a small pang of human emotion coursed through her veins. She saw Kohut, and relief trickled in with a whimper at first before breaking the dam and going full-force. Her body was racked with sobs. He couldn't see her like this, weak.

But she wasn't weak, was she? She had the advantage against him…her body moved with the grace and agility of a cybug.

"TAMORA!" She heard her name being called, and her head swiveled to see Kohut.

"You," she said, or tried to say, but all she heard was 'skree' – a horrible guttural noise she'd tried to block out at every opportunity to dispel the memories it gave her.

She winced.

"You've gone too far, Tamora!" Kohut's voice was crisp and angered, a rifle hoisted on his shoulder. She batted at him like a cat does a mouse, knocking the weapon out of his hands with minimal effort.

Kohut stared at her, fear in his eyes for once – even after she regaled him with the thrilling details of Turbo's return and how she had helped defeat his master plan, the man had never shown fear. Even being verbally abused by his commanding officer when they were in boot camp together, he'd always shown that steely resolve that she'd almost fallen in love with.

"D-Don't make me do this!" She heard his voice waver as he fumbled for his knife.

"_Skreeeee_," she said, embracing that she was never getting her human voice back. Embracing the fact that she'd gone full cybug, and from then on if she survived it was a life of eat, kill, and multiply – which, having infertility issues, she would have to spend the remainder of her years in the code room to do so. An endless life of inputting code after code, strengthening bonds and wires.

"_Skreeeee_," she repeated, but did not stop him.

"I'm sorry….TJ."

She coughed and felt a liquid warmness cascade down her throat as her vision dimmed. She remained alive long enough to see Kohut exit the castle with a bundle of something mint-green and shivering, the rescued Princess Vanellope.

Her vision faded.

When she regained it, Felix was there.

Ralph was there.

And the first thing she did was smile and hug the two of them.


	13. King Candy 1: Resurrection

**A/N: Hello everyone! I want to thank EVERYONE for their support so far. I know, the story is sad, but that's life sometimes, y'know? I do wanna go ahead and issue a warning that this chapter IS very depressing and slightly graphic, but this is probably as bad as it's going to get, because I rather enjoy the T rating. If you guys think I should up the ratings, just let me know. Sydney out!**

Turbo's hiding place couldn't have been more perfect. He had lived in the Diet Cola Mountain since his defeat three years prior, and hadn't left his haven since. He idly chewed on a small bit of mint, wondering when the last bits of his carapaces would be healed. It was a long and arduous recovery, and though he thought it possible to make his move now, it was best to wait.

Then, bless his super-sensitive hearing, there was the unmistakable soundbyte of an eight-bit character jumping. It had to be him, Turbo realized. No other eight-bit character would dare leave their game for fear of being unplugged. Turbo skittered to the wall of the volcano, passing by the last remaining cybug from the invasion. Lady Luck had smiled upon him, and given one of his followers a stay of execution from the beacon. He shuddered. He had no intention of being burned by a beacon again.

"Up," he commanded, and the cybug complied. It showed its wings, and Turbo latched on. He stabbed the cybug's brain with a claw, implanting memories of the handyman he'd heard. "There you are," he whispered to himself as he spotted the man, sitting on the rainbow bridge, legs dangling over the edge. Felix was blissfully unaware that he was mere seconds from becoming payment for Turbo's army.

"Hello, old friend," Turbo said jovially.

"Oh no!" Felix exclaimed and got up.

How pathetic, no sense of urgency. He was as composed as could be. Turbo saw where he was running, to Hero's Duty. It was almost too perfect, but what did he expect to happen? Those commandos would shoot him down and-

They'd be distracted.

He could get more eggs.

"Calhoun!" He heard the handyman yell out for the leader of the game. He'd never personally met the woman, even at the battle, but had been debriefed on her by Sour Bill when Hero's Duty was first plugged in. But how did Felix know who she was? "Calhoun, he's- Turbo-"

And more importantly, how did Calhoun know who he was?

"She ain't here, shrimp," a soldier replied. "Surge Protector's got her doin' end-of-months."

"But you don't-"

"I'll tell her to meet you later." The commando turned away, and Turbo snickered. It was just him and the protagonist now. His servant cybug was advancing toward Felix, hungry. "Not yet," he said, gently placing a clawed hand on his shell. "Not yet. Soon."

He walked toward Felix. "You're all alone, Fix-It. And you won't be able to fix yourself when I'm done with you." He roughly lifted the small man up by his shirt, a smile playing across his lips. "It's a shame Calhoun's not here. Maybe she could have saved you." He noticed a small ring from Sonic the Hedgehog's game on his finger. "Let me guess," he laughed. "You married her."

"That's- That's none of your business!" Felix stammered. "Now put me down!"

"In good time," he said as he slammed Felix against a wall. He heard the hero groan and some bone crack. "I need my army first."

"T-Tammy won't-" He heard Felix cough, and a bit of blood sprayed from his mouth. It had been a rib that had shattered. "She won't give you her army, i-if that's what you're….thinki- OH!"

"I'm not talking about her soldiers, idiot! I'm talking about the cybugs!" In his rage, he gripped the handyman harder. Felix coughed again, more blood dripping out of his mouth.

"Turbo, plea-"

He slammed Felix into the rock face, but still felt his heart beat. "Why won't you die?" He growled. He knew he was close, the superintendent was gasping for air under his grip. "I think it's time we ended this," he said. He dragged a claw across his enemy's throat. Fix-it Felix Jr. was finally dead. Turbo carelessly tossed the body to a nearby group of cybugs. "Have him," he said.

What he wished he'd known was that Felix's heart beat one final time as the cybug ate him.

* * *

It didn't take long for Vanellope von Schweetz to kowtow to him. He found her lounging about in the royal kart – his royal kart – which she cowered behind when she saw his cybug form again, leading an army of cybugs. "Wh-what do you want?" The frightened princess asked. "Revenge," he said. "Now, you'll do as I say, unless you'd rather meet with an unfortunate accident." He waited for the sergeant to appear. She would any minute now, and his suspicions were confirmed when he saw the arc ripple slightly, signaling the heroine's arrival. Shortly after, the warthog wrecker appeared. This couldn't have been more perfect if he tried. He snapped his fingers, causing a thick gold ring – a virus – to wrap around the sergeant's neck.

He used his magic to tighten it as he felt her struggle to remove the collar, watched her as the wrecker attempted to free her from the offending object, and watched as the wrecker took his last breath. "Ralph!" The sergeant had exclaimed. "No, please, not you too!" She begged.

"You've been infected, my dear Calhoun," King Candy said as he made his grand appearance, smirking triumphantly. "I could have done so much better," he said as he beheld her trembling form. "You look like you've got one of those hedgehog's rings around your neck. Now, one moment," he said, holding up a claw to cut her off before she could speak. The ring changed shape to a thin chain necklace with a ruby in the center, marking the virus. He cupped her chin in his claws, her large blue eyes brimming with tears.

"Stay away from me," she hissed. "I'm not in the fucking mood." He watched as she tried to back into the tunnel, but was only met with solidity.

"You're a virus now, my dear," King Candy said. "You can't leave. Unless I alter its code."


	14. King Candy 2: Introduction

**A/N: I AM SO SORRY EVERYONE! I know it's been 2 months since my last update and I feel awful! It's been crazy busy at work and I've had AWFUL writer's block on this story. So here's an extra long chapter for y'all! And thanks SO much to everyone who has reviewed so far. If I could be so kind, could you all tell your friends about this fic? I'd really like to get 50 reviews on this fic by the time it's all said and done. And when I say 'all said and done', I mean that after this chapter, there's gonna be about 37 more. But if I get 50 or more reviews, it may be longer! Of course, you guys, I don't own Wreck-it Ralph at all.**

"Come," he began as he led her to the candy castle. He chanced a look at her, those cerulean eyes burning with hate as she laid down on the ground, having tripped, but it was obvious she was ready to give up. "Are you all right?"

"Fine. Don't do me any favors."

"Sergeant," he said kindly, though his patience would wear thin. This was to be his queen, and how was she going to act as time went on? "I only asked if you were all right."

"Please," she begged uncharacteristically. "Let me go back. Let me-"

He cut her off, not wanting her to feel any undue emotional pain. "If you go back," he said quietly, concerned for her wellbeing. "it will only be a reminder of what transpired. You'll remember Brad Scott, you'll remember Felix. But I'm giving you something new." He would give her power beyond her wildest dreams, if only she would learn to listen and obey.

"Why save me," the sergeant said quietly. "Why not drag me out to another game and execute me?"

"Because I admire your power, honestly. And I need a queen." As soon as the words left his lips – or mandibles, whichever – he knew it was a mistake, and he could sense her reaction.

"Okay, you know what," the sergeant spat. "That is it. Get me out of this-"

He had to distract her. He momentarily allowed the virus to send a shockwave of pain through her body, her beautiful blue eyes that held so much hate for him glowing a brief scarlet color. "Now now," he chided. "Is that any way to repay your host?" He scolded her as if she were a child, but it was so much more than that. In this game, a child had once had power. Calhoun was his prey. He fought back the urge to salivate as he imagined eating her, killing her, dissipating her code into nothingness, the third of the four heroes to die.

When they reached the castle and he ensured the virus' pain had ebbed, he turned to her.

"Vanellope?" The soldier asked.

"I'm sure she's out practicing drifts with the other racers. She doesn't know I've returned yet. I'm waiting for the right moment." Truth be told, the child was in the Fungeon already of course, and the 'right moment' he spoke of would be to delete the child's code from the game and kill her.

"You won't hurt her, will you?"

"I see you're warming up to me. You have your infection to thank for that." He cleared his throat. "No, Vanellope will not be harmed, so long as I do not meet resistance. Do you remember the licorice clearing where you found the cybug nest?"

"Yes," the sergeant answered.

"She never goes there – it's near the platformer section. That you were there was a complete fluke. Anyway. When the invasion started, some eggs hadn't hatched. I'm not sure why, but when I respawned, I went back and they had. They've been hiding under there ever since. But back to Vanellope. If she crosses me, she'll be taken to another game, with my cybugs, and eaten."

"Is that what happened to Felix?" She asked.

"Yes."

"And," she said, and it was evident by her tone that she was starting to piece everything together. "You did this so you could have me as your queen, didn't you?"

"Yes. It was the only way I knew how."

When they reached the throne room, King Candy broke off a piece of the cart's hood and offered it to the sergeant, the virus reading back her vital signs and telling him that she was hungry. "Sit down," he said. "Make yourself comfortable. You're hungry. Here." He broke off more. "It's from my kart. I can't drive it in this body."

He watched as she slowly nibbled at the kart, as tenderly and tentatively as the marshmallow Peeps would eat the cotton candy grass. "I'll be able to go back to my game eventually, won't I?" The sergeant asked after she had swallowed.

"I'm sure," the king answered confidently. "When I've amassed an army large enough to take on Hero's Duty. You'll be by my side. I'm going to end that wretched game. And even though you'll be a cybug, your men won't attack you."

"A cybug? What? You're insa-"

"Calhoun," he said in a measured tone. "You may be my queen, but I am your king, and you _will_ hold your tongue. I can control how far this virus goes. I know you want to die. It's very much your only thought at this point in time. But I have no intention of killing you. In fact, you're the only one in this arcade worthy of surviving at all." He turned around, facing the opposite direction, when he heard her thoughts.

_Be strong. Get him. Make the bastard pay. Fuck the virus. Don't let it hold you back._

He couldn't help but feel a slight tinge of pride when he saw her movements were labored, an aftereffect of the virus trying to protect him. But still the sergeant had managed to unholster her dagger.

"You are strong," he said, then snapped his fingers, the virus tightening its grip on the sergeant and flinging her, midair, to another room.

* * *

King Candy flinched as he glitched, watching as the sergeant's code appeared in the code room. Sour Bill, his once-faithful lackey, was tending to the reinstated royal's newest prisoner. The demonic ruler laughed as he saw the sergeant's code box appear in the code room. It was a sleek black rectangle, nothing like the various code boxes that represented the various values of Sugar Rush and its inhabitants. On the rectangle itself was 'SERGEANT TAMORA JEAN CALHOUN' in red lettering and a full color picture of the Sergeant's face and shoulders on a blue background, a compulsory exercise demanded by Surge Protector to ensure proper identification.

The code box was feeding its wires into the other wires of the code boxes, seamlessly integrating into Sugar Rush, because of his handiwork, because he commanded the virus the sergeant was now infected with. She'd seen the effects, of course, the small patch of red coding where she'd tried to hit the exit with her heel was evidence enough of that.


	15. King Candy 3: Transformation

**A/N: Another chapter so soon?! Well well. Things are picking up, aren't they? Haha! Well, here's the third chapter of the King Candy/Turbo POV.**

His cybug companion was getting anxious, he could sense it. He could read and shut off the minds of all of his subjects. He had kept the sergeant's mind pleasantly blurred, as if she were intoxicated. The virus was keeping her moderately sedated. But now, his loyal subject growing restless in its bloodthirst, was the time to take his queen. He reached out a red-clawed hand for the bug's blue shell, petting it. "Soon," he said. "Very soon."

It chirped and chittered at his touch, awaiting the sergeant's death sentence so it could feast.

Two down, two to go, he thought, realizing what a wonderful team he and the sergeant made. He'd brought Felix down, and she brought the wrecker down, however unwittingly it was. He would keep her alive, and they would be the last two survivors of the arcade when all was said and done.

He would break her slowly, intimately. Crush her spirit, devour her soul. Drive her into madness. She was his toy.

And it was as if her biological makeup knew she was his plaything. When he entered the room the soldier was in, the armor fell off of her with a _cli-click-shh_ sound, though the sergeant was awake and alert. "I hadn't expected that," he said quietly to himself. "Put it back on," he told the virus, and the virus complied, the armor smashing into the sergeant's body with an audible snap and a scream from the woman as she was thrust into the wall. He wanted to remember his queen as a fighter when all was said and done, not as a skinny little weakling barely suited to wash his racecar.

"Sour Bill," he said quietly. "Bring the bug in."

"B-bug? A cybug?" The sergeant asked, as if expecting a small roach from Tapper's.

"Yes, my dear. Don't play stupid. You know where cybrids come from." He chuckled at her naiveté.

His heightened abilities afforded him heightened senses, and he chanced a glimpse into the sergeant's mind. She hadn't seen Felix's body, but her mind filled in the blanks and it was surprisingly true to form. Then her memories of Brad Scott flickered by in his mind's eye.

He heard her horrified gasp as the cybug entered, and she slowly started walking toward it, propelled by the virus. "The virus is making it too easy. Why don't you fight back a little? You have so much time to be a predator yourself. Why not enjoy your time as prey?"

Calhoun was convulsing in fear as he dialed back the effects the virus had on her.

"Sarge!" The candy child yelled.

His cybug companion snarled and attached itself to Calhoun, pinning her down and devouring her in less than a second. The room they were in was covered in flecks of the sergeant's blood, and then came the green sparks as the cybug began its transformation.

When it finished, Calhoun opened her eyes, which were yellow like his Turbo personality's own. He grinned down at her as she stood up on all six legs. From the waist down she looked like a black widow spider without the hourglass. From the waist up, she looked exactly as she always had. She rubbed her head nervously, still toeing a fine line between feral and sentient, and looked at Vanellope.

"Food," she rasped.

King Candy watched, amused, as his newest lackey twitched nervously at the sight of Vanellope, her red circi tails curling and glowing. He would have to teach her how to use them properly to strangle her victims. He could smell the child's vanilla-scented blood, but he had learned to control his urges. His queen could not, and would not. It was up to him to stop her. "Kill…kill you," the spider-themed queen was saying. He saw a slight grin as the three of them heard the child's bones crack under the pressure of the cybrid's claws. "Eat you."

"Sarge, it's me! It's Vanellope! You don't want to-"

The child died, then regenerated. "My queen," King Candy said. "Now's not the time."

_Hungry_. Her thoughts were transmitted to him.

"I know you're hungry," he said empathetically. "But you won't get to eat her unless you take her out of the game. The second she dies, she'll just regenerate. We'll take her out of this game, all in due time. In the meantime, some of the other racers might curb your appetite a bit. Just make sure you leave eight racers."

She nodded.

* * *

"My king," Sour Bill drawled the next morning. "We have a visitor."

"Hmm? Who is it?"

"I believe it's one of the soldiers from Hero's Duty, sir."

King Candy groaned. "Vanellope," he said. After all, no one knew he was back, and he intended to keep it that way until his queen was ready to fight alongside him.

The deposed ruler jumped at the chance to leave the cramped room.

He stroked his new wife's hair, his claws gently going over the scars that certainly had an interesting story to them. He grinned. She was a true warrior, and he had chosen his queen well. Perhaps she would regale him with the details of how she came to get those scars.

He would be a better husband than Felix could have ever been.


	16. King Candy 4: Interrogation

**A/N: Here comes the fun part, guys! A part where everything is not as it seems...or is it?**

Thunder crashed, the war game's artificial intelligence systems initiating a rainstorm like King Candy had never seen. He didn't know weather was even possible in a video game. Yet here he was, among other cybugs, in a dystopian landscape. Maybe he could take over this game next, and forget Sugar Rush. He certainly fit in a little better, though his colors were different. Perhaps he could pass as a boss battle if he weren't so brightly colored.

_Where were the soldiers?_ He asked himself.

"Wow."

No sooner had he thought about the soldiers than he heard their voices.

"I guess they're real," one soldier mused aloud.

"Ho-ly shit. Cybrids are real?"

As they spoke, King Candybug hid behind a large rock.

"Looks….almost like the sarge, doesn't it?"

"I think it is the sarge, Markowski."

"Can't be," a gravelly voice called. "Sarge would never let herself get turned into a cybrid."

"Corpor- Sergeant, look. It's got to be her. Cropped blonde hair…"

"It's her."

King Candy smirked as he heard the soldier's defeated voice.

"Spears, Johnson, Markowski. Enough chit-chat. Get this bug into the med bay and we'll find out exactly what the hell happened."

* * *

King Candy crept into the med bay, watching in the shadows as the soldier stepped forward to the table the spider cybrid was resting on. "Oh, TJ." It was barely a breath from the sergeant's mouth, but King Candy could hear it clear as a bell. "I'm so sorry, TJ."

The cybug monarch watched as another man touched _his_ mate.

"This wasn't supposed to happen to you…" Kohut said, his voice soft and weak.

King Candy glared at the soldier, corrupting his mate's code so that when the virus' hold on her strengthened, she would remember the encounter quite differently. His version of events would drive her to madness, drive her to being a killer. He would allow her to act as herself, for now, but she wouldn't remember it.

"TJ, I am so sorry this happened," Kohut said again, and King Candy watched him as he stroked his queen's short blonde hair.

The monarch suppressed a snarl.

"TJ, sweetheart…if I knew…" The soldier's body was wracked with sobs. "If I knew this would happen to you I would have gone with you. I should have gone with you, TJ, and I'm sorry. This is my fault. I am to blame."

"Kohut." King Candy heard the ragged voice of his mate. "Stop your babbling, this isn't your damn fault and you know it. Stop being such a pussywillow."

"TJ…"

"And so help me, Kohut, if you call me 'sweetheart' again-"

King Candy flinched at the sound. He would have to strengthen the virus' effects on her further. But the masochistic part of him wanted to know what more the soldier had to say.

"TJ, I never wanted this to happen to you."

"And you think I did?" She bit. "My husband's dead, Kohut, and look at my fucking body."

"TJ…"

"Kohut, you remember what I said years ago, don't you? When we were first plugged in?"

"Yes. But I won't."

"What?" She hissed.

_What were they talking about?_ He wondered.

"I won't kill you. You can beat him, TJ. I know you can."

King Candy saw that the soldier called Kohut was going to release his mate. What Kohut didn't know was that the ex-racer had super sensitive hearing.

"Do it for me."


	17. King Candy 5: Subjugation

**A/N: Hey guys! Just a quick heads up. I am currently planning on rewriting this story – yes, you read that right! With LONGER CHAPTERS! More characters, and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, a more coherent plot. There will be less POV switching. But I fully intend to finish this fic! Absolutely, no doubt about it! Also, thanks to the lovely ask-sergeant-calhoun on Tumblr, WE NOW HAVE COVER ART! Without further ado, onto the fic! Also, sorry this chapter is really short, I've worked the past twelve days and this was pretty much all I could squeeze out but I wanted to update today!**

* * *

King Candy left Hero's Duty, unseen by the Surge Protector. It was easy enough, and he was sure he had been seen. But Surge was nearing thirty-six, and thus was not the most trustworthy of sights. The purple bug king walked on the fondant tiles of the castle, pondering his next move. He could feel the sergeant's brain awakening, his hold on her loosening as she embraced her humanity.

How would she process those events? He didn't know himself.

He saw glimpses of her as she skittered back to Sugar Rush, her carapace cracked. He felt her disappointment as she cursed herself.

Based off of his limited knowledge of cybugs, she would need the night to heal.

Based off of his limited knowledge of the sergeant, she would not take it.

"Where have you been?" He asked as the sergeant finally entered, lines on her face glowing red with the mark of the virus. "I was so worried about you."

"I-I was out hunting," she said, and it was obvious her pride was injured more gravely than her arm. "And got hurt."

"Yes, I can see that," he said darkly. "Are you all right now?"

"Yes," she said. "I'm going to bed."

With that, he heard the click-clack of her legs as they walked on the tiles and his queen entered her chambers.

* * *

"Glitch."

Vanellope looked up at King Candy, almost straining her neck to meet his gaze. He never lowered himself to her unless he intended to threaten her.

"What," she said flatly.

"I know the soldier from Hero's Duty – the male one – has come to visit."

"Yes."

"What has he told you?"

"H-he told me i-if I was ever in trouble…t-to come get him."

Oh. So that was it.

"Well," he said. "He won't be getting the chance…because I intend to make you a glitch."

"Y-you can't! I-I won't be able to race!"

"Oh, but I can. You see, Litwak's a sentimental old fool. He's had this console for twenty years, he'd never retire it. He's still not unplugged that warthog's game, and it's been out of commission for a week. He won't unplug us. I have nothing to lose by turning you into a glitch."

"King Candy, please!"

"Or maybe, just maybe…I'll make you into a cybrid, too." He glanced at a baby cybug in the corner, who was simply staring at them, wondering when it was going to be fed.

"Please, no!" Vanellope begged. "Please!"

"Then do I have your word…your word that you will not seek the soldier out?"

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, my king," she said softly, her hazel eyes brimming with tears.

"Very good."

He left her, then went into the code room to think.

He decided to touch his mate's code. The wires were all red, neat and orderly, all pointing to a center of a cybug egg, the monster's core. But there was a small, nigh-unnoticeable blue line in the code.

He wondered, even for a brief second, if Felix was alive within the cybug that had also eaten his wife.

But that was impossible.

Felix was dead. He was sure of it.


	18. King Candy 6: Vindication

**A/N: Hey guys, another quick chapter that's a little longer than the previous, though not quite as long. I promise, things will pick up with KCB/Turbo and then the Vanellope and Kohut chapters will be the 'meat' of the story. So, here goes. As usual, I don't own Wreck-it Ralph. Also, a tentative date for the remake, which is titled Apex of the Cyren...December 1st, 2013.**

No, no. It couldn't be.

Felix was dead. He'd seen the handyman eaten, never to return.

But, something in the back of his brain told him, there was life to his scream. Perhaps too much life. He skittered around the throne room nervously, just as he had when Wynnchel and Duncan had informed him there was no sign of the glitch, when this had all began. But then, he was powerless. Just a little man with no hope of anything higher in life – he would be doomed to the same arcade game,

He remembered holding the eight-bit hero over a cybug's open mandible. He'd heard the desperate wheezes of a man with broken bones pushing into his internal organs, sure to be dead in a matter of moments.

Was that why the particular cybug who followed him around was so intent on feasting on the sergeant? Some sort of twisted desire to be together in death?

He went into her chambers, watching as she slept soundly. He wondered what had injured her so terribly. He stayed in the room, waiting as she fell asleep. He remained camouflaged, sure she wouldn't see him.

Brr-ding!

He knew that sound.

Felix's hammer.

So he was alive. The cold blood of fear ran through his veins as he realized his plan had failed. But there was a way to (he shuddered as he thought the word) fix all that. He went into the code room, anchoring himself to the wall. He punched in the password and entered the code room, bringing up his mate's code box. The series of black and red pulsating lines barely shielded a slim, bright blue one.

"There you are, old friend." He chuckled to himself, remembering the poor superintendent. He never stood a chance, his four-foot body no match for something ten times bigger and stronger.

He heard the whimpers of Tamora – or was it Felix – as he squeezed the thin line of code that kept Felix alive inside the bug. As his fingers traced the thin line, ready to snip it at a moment's notice. But no, he couldn't do that yet. If he did, he would never be able to see how far he could control his mate. He laughed, enjoying the sounds of their whimpers and cries as he squeezed and the color and brightness faded from the wire.

* * *

There was so much to be done about the Felix situation, but it was delicate. He would have to plan carefully, make sure his mate was none the wiser, and also make sure she hadn't noticed Felix's return. He'd seen her when they had hunted the Sugar Rush racers, and he noticed that the scars from her attack had changed from red, the secondary color of her shell, to blue. Felix's influence, no doubt. He watched her now, asleep, her carapace moving up and down slightly as her face contorted in contemplation, as if she were trying to figure out a dream.

"Mm…Felix…." She mumbled.

Was she dreaming, or was she managing a connection to him?

He tapped into her brain and saw that she was on a beach, no doubt from Extreme Easy Living 2. He took her in in all of her breathtaking beauty. She was in her normal human form, wearing a striking blue dress with white sandals. King Candy took her in. Perhaps he'd made a mistake making her a cybrid, she could have been his human slave. She had a smile on her face.

Next to her was the handyman, rocking back and forth like a nervous child about to tell his mother he had done something to the cat.

"Felix, Kohut told me you'd-" The bewildered soldier began.

"The cybug that ate you," Felix said with a sigh. "was the same one that ate me."

"You're here now, that's what matters," she said. "I've missed you so much."

"I'm always with you, Tammy," he said. "And I'll keep you from becoming a monster."

"Thank you," she said quietly. It was all she could think of to say – this was just a dream, he wasn't really there with her. "Felix, did you-"

"I healed you," Felix said. "Well, fixed is the right word, I-I guess."

"You're so sweet," she said with a laugh, then her laughter abruptly stopped. "I wish you'd be there when I wake up. I just…I'm sorry. I should be enjoying what little time we have here."

He left their dream undetected.

Soon there would be nothing but nightmares for his mate, and nothing at all for Felix.


	19. King Candy 7: Sanguination

**A/N: Hey guys! Remember how I said I was gonna have the remake up on December 1st? Well, I'm actually going to try to have this done before then and the new fic up on 10/31 (I thought the story was kind of Halloweenish). So, without further ado, here's the next chapter. Oh, and I don't own Wreck-it Ralph.**

* * *

King Candy moped around his throne room once more. So it was true, she was still loyal to Felix. Her mind was loyal to him, of course, but the deceased handyman still held her heart. He sighed. Something had to be done. Maybe if he cut the last strand of Felix that existed, the sergeant would bend to his every whim and will. He was about to go to the code room when he heard the unmistakable sound of a cruiser's motor.

"King Candy!" A soldier's voice boomed.

"Yes?" The giant cybrid asked, turning to face the man. "Ah, you're one of Tamora's soldiers."

"Corporal Kohut," the man bit. "Sergeant Kohut after the incident."

"Ah, yes, where your sergeant was eaten, am I correct? Terrible. Apparently your cybugs are gaining sentience."

"I'm guessing under your command."

"Ah, no, no, no. You see, it's evolution at work."

"Still, we cannot allow them to run around and cause Triple-Os." The sergeant said. "Now, I've come to peaceably bargain for our commander."

"Your commander, hm?"

"Tamora Calhoun."

"Yes, of course, I'm aware of her name," he said, an acid tinge to his voice. "What I'm unaware of is exactly her feelings on the situation. She might want to stay here, you never know."

He knew Calhoun was hiding in the curtain where his kart had been. His faithful warrior queen (save for the sliver of her that belonged to Felix) would await his every move, ready to battle due to the virus that coursed through her veins like lava. Indeed he heard her snarl, detectable to only cybugs and cybrids. He chuckled as he telepathically increased the virus' hold on the corrupted soldier. She stepped out in all of her glory, her cerulean eyes rimmed with red on the edges where the iris met the pupil and where the iris met the sclera of the eye.

"As you can see," King Candy said, lifting his mate's chin to inspect her eyes to see if the virus' hold had really increased. "She's quite happy here. Isn't that right, dear?"

"Yes. Happy." Her voice sounded clipped, a mere side effect of the virus.

"Your search is over. Your sergeant is dead."

"Tamora, please! You have to remember! You have to fight!"

King Candy watched as those sapphire eyes of hers removed all of the red, her senses temporarily back. No doubt thanks to the handyman who inhabited her brain.

"Kohut!"

The candy king's eyes widened as he saw a black, clawed hand reach out for her companion.

He would have to get rid of Felix. He snarled, overpowering the soldier.

"Get out," he growled lowly, staring at the now-frightened soldier. The man's chest plate cracked under the cybrid's weight, and so soon would his ribcage. "Get out now, but know that you have declared war."

When Kohut left, King Candy stared at his mate and growled at her, his feelings betrayed.

* * *

When he wasn't closely guarding the throne room for signs of Sergeant Kohut, King Candy was sitting in the code room. He had seen the sergeant and the candy child come in a few times, and after the first time he knew they were checking on Felix. He remembered with perfect clarity the last time they had come into the code room: Sergeant Calhoun had a licorice rope around her waist, and the glitch was holding onto her shoulders like a child learning how to swim.

"You see anything interesting?" Vanellope asked for a while – he'd tuned out, they were going on about something or other that didn't interest him until they'd discovered the almost-invisible cyan wire.

"Yeah," Calhoun said. "I do." Her eyes were locked to a thin, almost-invisible blue wire, the same hue as her scars, that ran along the edge of the cube and to the cybug egg center. "He's alive!" Pure elation was the only thing crossing her mind at that moment, and she held Vanellope close, hugging her. For an unbidden moment, the usurper king felt her elation too. "Felix is alive! It's true!"

'Oh, not for long,' he mused to himself.

When they left the code room, he saw her steal a glance in his general direction, but he knew she would just dismiss it as a trick of the light.

What would he be doing in the code room anyway?

* * *

He cleared his throat before he called her. "Tamora, my queen," he said. "Would you join me in the code room, please? And bring the girl."

He half-wondered if he would have to force her via the virus to come, but eventually, she did of her own volition, and had indeed brought the deposed president as asked. He had already tied a licorice rope around his waist, and waited for Tamora to do the same. When she did, he addressed the child. "If you release either of these ropes," he said. "So help me, I'll drag you to another game and kill you myself."

He heard the click of a claw on a carapace, and knew that she must have been telling Vanellope about how Felix would protect them.

How foolish of her.

"There's actually room to move in here," his queen said quietly. "Back home, in Hero's Duty, we didn't have this kind of room. All sorts of cybug eggs floating every which way…it was hard to move around whenever one of us had to go in and change something."

"I'd wager, even though your game is newer and can support more code, there are more beings in this game. The candy spectators, all of the medals…"

He heard her as she floated over to an egg sac. "What is this?"

"This will be our army," he said.

"Our army?"

"Well, how did you think cybugs got created? They have to be replicated in the code. Cybrids are infertile, we have no way of multiplying our army by ourselves. So I went to the code room for a little bit of help. It's awe-inspiring, isn't it? Just think how many cybugs we'll have tomorrow. By my count, we have a little under a thousand."

"Yes, it's, uh, quite impressive."

"Now," he said. It was time to get to the real reason of his visit, to exert his control over her. "Let's check our codes. For any…interference."

_Oh shit. He definitely knows._

_Be strong._

"You seem a little pale," the king said with a smirk. "Maybe I should check your code first."

"I-I had a question first."

"Yes?"

"When I first came here a few days a-ago, and you infected me with the virus…"

"Don't worry. It won't harm you. I was only using it as a sedative, really. I didn't want you to feel much pain. A little, yes, but not very much. I didn't want you to be traumatized completely by your husband's death, nor your friend Wreck-it Ralph's…or by your transformation."

_Maybe that bought me some time._

Time to drop the playing dumb act. "Bought you some time?" he asked. "What ever do you mean?"

"I…nothing."

"I can read your thoughts, Calhoun. I thought you knew that." He tapped on her code box. "But you apparently didn't."

He watched her eyes – they went right to the line where the tiny bit of Felix still lived.

"Interesting. There shouldn't be any color other than red here…would you come a little closer, please?"

He knew she wouldn't obey. Felix's self-preservation was no doubt kicking in.

"That was an order," he said firmly.

He snapped his clawlike fingers, and in an instant she appeared at his side of his volition. "Do you know anything about this little blue line?"

"Yes," she said. When he had his grip on her, it was impossible for her to lie to him.

"What is it?"

"F-Felix." He stopped himself from grinning at hearing her voice waver, she knew what was going to happen just as much as he did. Felix's time was up.

"I believe I've made a horrible mistake. It would appear that the cybug that ate you also ate your husband…and your husband, evidently, was not quite dead when he was eaten."

"What are you going to do?"

He closed his eyes and opened them again, then looked into her eyes. They were closed but he could tell they were glowing yellow, like his Turbo personality's. Her descent into full-cybrid was accelerating, and her last little lifeline of Felix would only quicken that further. "I've turned off your vision," he explained. "You're now seeing things through my eyes. I wanted you to have a front row seat to this."

He squeezed the wire, and, having tapped into her mind, he could hear the handyman's frantic squeals. Oh, how joyous that sound was! To think it was a shame the diminutive repairman would be dead in a matter of moments.

"No, please!" He heard his mate's voice. "Please, don't cut his-"

He rolled the thin wire between his claws, causing it to fray slightly (which in turn caused more whimpers from the poor protagonist whose lifeline it served as). "Don't worry, my dear. You won't have anything to worry about from him anymore." He snapped the wire and released her vision back to her.

"Let's go," he said. "Everything looks normal here."


	20. King Candy 8: Escalation

**A/N: Hey guys, another relatively short chapter, because things are starting to heat up. Once things DO heat up, however, the chapters will be longer. And of course there's the remake coming up on 10/31/13, which I am ridiculously excited about. I hope to have this story completed by the end of September, or at the very least by mid-October. So, here comes the chapter! And once again, I don't own Wreck-it Ralph.**

* * *

King Candy searched for his queen for days. He was beginning to get worried. Sure, since he'd tied off all ties to Felix, she would embrace her cybug part more, but he hoped that meant it would have her embrace him more as well. But it didn't, and instead the dynamic personality of the cybug drove her to solitude. He opted to allow her privacy. He figured wherever she was, it was important.

She would come back to him when she was ready, he hoped.

He still allowed the deposed president to race, and thus his only joy when he wasn't thinking about his mate was watching the races in a wistful way. True, he loved racing, but he would soon be on his way to something far greater: complete domination of the arcade.

Being from the eighties, he had never heard of something called the Internet. Apparently, if he heard correctly from one of the other racers, it was something where the entire world could be connected at once.

It dawned on him that he could take over the world.

No one would be safe, not program, not programmer…not human.

King Candy began to plot his next move.

He sauntered to the code room, wondering how he could free his code and convert it into electrical energy.

His corrupted heart skipped a beat when he noticed a code box missing.

Taffyta Muttonfudge was dead.

* * *

He had been seen first by Taffyta Muttonfudge upon his return, after capturing the glitch. She was a tiny thing to him now, previously having only been a half-foot shorter than he was. Now she cowered before him, false bravado melting away. "K-King Candy!" the strawberry-themed racer had squealed.

"Yes, my child," he said softly, stroking her strawberry cap. "Hello."

"Y-you're gonna…" she said softly. "You're gonna eat me, aren't you?"

"No, child, why would I do that to my favorite racer?"

"B-because you're evil, th-think of what you did to Vanellope."

"Ah, but she's still very much a glitch. The players may love her now, but you must think in the long term, child."

His cybug senses could smell the fear on her, the momentary lapse of his feral personality being shut down by his diplomatic better half.

"V-Vanellope!" She called.

"Vanellope isn't here, hoo hoo," he chortled, generously displaying a bit of his old personality for her benefit. "She's been imprisoned."

"Wh-what? Free her right now!"

"Oh, that won't be happening any time soon," he said. "Not until after I've taken over the arcade!"

"You're crazy!" Taffyta said. "I know what I'll do – I'll get the sergeant!"

"The sergeant?"

Then the cybug part of him vaguely remembered. The blonde woman who fired at his colony mates was the leader of the pack of humans tasked to fight his people. Her power was nearly as insurmountable as his own was. It was then that he knew he had to have her, had to dominate her – make her his.

* * *

He stared at the code box, feeling betrayed. There was only one fate that could have befallen his favorite racer, and that was being torn apart by a cybrid. He wondered why she hadn't shown up since. Was she ashamed? Had she been captured? Had the soldier from Hero's Duty executed her?

He respectfully bowed his head for the deceased child, then knew what he had to do. He touched his code box, paying special attention to a group of wires in the shape of a heart with lightning bolts. He gently touched it, and his hand turned into energy. He stuck his arm in further, feeling it tingle and more of the arm turn into energy.

So this is how you did it.

He gasped with delight, then threw his entire body into the small code heart.

* * *

Omnipotence suited him, he realized as he electrically floated along Litwak's Family Fun Center. He was everywhere at once, and he loved it. He was there in the cameras, watching the old man's every move. He wondered if Surge Protector was able to do this. The old man in his referee uniform was checking the games, and King Candy waited with bated breath to see if he would notice what was amiss about the Sugar Rush game. Hopefully, he would not notice Taffyta or Vanellope missing – or that it was likely the children hadn't organized that evening's random roster race given the circumstances.

If Litwak noticed something was up, it was all for naught.

He was an interesting variable, for without the old man, there could be no arcade.

Or could there? After all, what were any of them but just bits of electricity, bytes of code?

The old man was approaching the Sugar Rush machine.

"Well I'll be," he had said.

King Candy's breath hitched.

Those would be the last words anyone would ever hear of Stan Litwak.

And with the death of the owner, King Candy realized, he had signed his own death warrant. It was only a matter of time until the soldiers in Hero's Duty realized what he had done – or the Surge Protector.


End file.
